KISS – KISS (Review)

Can you guess which of these guys got someone else to do their makeup?

KISS, the band’s self-titled debut album from 1974, is loaded with more classics than any other studio album they would ever put out. The masked New York rockers were already making a reputation as an explosive live act and when you look at the tracks featured here, Strutter, Firehouse, Cold Gin, Deuce, Black Diamond and 100,000 Years, it’s no wonder few bands dared take them out as support act.

But it’s not all cut from that timeless cloth. The gimmicky single Kissin’ Time and the aimless instrumental Love Theme From KISS detract from the album. And the band were unable to capture the power and excitement of their live shows in the studio. KISS at their best put a spring in your step like no other band but the production and performance here is too tentative to quite achieve that.

KISS would eventually deliver definitive renditions of these songs on their mega-selling 1975 album Alive! But there’s a reason so many of that live album’s songs were drawn from their debut. KISS is a must-hear for fans of street-level, meat and potatoes hard rock. A flawed classic that planted the seeds of success with its pop-savvy mix of Humble Pie boogie, tasty heavy riffs and an array of songs that would become the stuff of legend.

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39 thoughts on “KISS – KISS (Review)”

Nice surprise to see this album pop up in my Reader! Your right those 6 tracks that you mentioned have always been pretty much a part of their live repertoire pretty much for decades..
100,000 Thousand Years is perhaps my fav especially that opening Bass lick and Spaceman’s guitar solo…
Perhaps only one of threeor four studio records that all dudes that are pictured actually play on the album…
Well done Dude!

I love how the debuts songs sound on KISS Alive with a little more edge and rawness added to the mix. Oh wait a minute I forgot KISS was Alive in the studio..haha
Still though still sounds great!
I’m going to have to pick this debut up on vinyl sooner than later…

It’s a fair gripe. It’s why it’s never been one of my top KISS albums, despite the song quality. Destroyer is the other other one of theirs that’s classic-heavy but the performances and sound are in another league.

I see this from time to time nd think “do I need more KISS in my house?” and so far the answer has been no just because I don’t know from song titles (exceot the obvious ones) and I know some of their stuff was sketchy so I never grab them. This makes me think I oughta.

While I’m on the point, what about Dressed To Kill. Is it worth $1.50?

Good to know, thanks! I have a bunch of KISS stuff here – some of it from my travels, some from our venerable LeBrain, and some of it from you even (I got your Unmasked) I think!. One belongs to my lovely wife. My iTunes says I have:

As for how much I like what I’ve got, I like some of it! I’m not always in a KISS mood, but sometimes it works well enough for me. I’m so late to the game that I’ll never be a big fan like some of the folks in these blogs, but I like ’em well enough.

Of the post 70s stuff you’re missing Music From The Elder, Animalize, Crazy Nights, Hot In The Shade. All stuff you could probably come across cheap eventually. None particularly essential although all have their fans (I love all of those!)

KISS is one of those bands I seem to be given more than I buy, but when I buy them I always wonder if I’ll actually listen to it and then I do and I like it and then I wonder why I wondered. Sigh. Of all the ones you mentioned, the Ace record sounds like the one that oughta be next on my list!

I went back for the Dressed To Kill CD and it was gone. Ah well, at least I have the LP! And I got Venom’s Welcome To Hell (with bonus tracks and slipcase) instead, so I consider that a win anyway!